The present invention relates to the field of conveyor toasters, and specifically to mechanisms for controlling the degree of cooking of the food product.
Conveyor toasters typically include a housing having a cook chamber, a conveyor for moving food product through the cook chamber, and heating elements for cooking the food product as it is moved through the cook chamber. In order to control the level of cooking of the food product, it is known to control the speed of the conveyor. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,396, assigned to Hatco Corporation discloses a conveyor oven that controls the speed of the conveyor based on the temperature inside the oven. For example, if the temperature in the oven is relatively low, then the conveyor will slow down to allow the food product to cook to the desired level. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,564 discloses a conveyor oven that has pre-programmed cook options with different conveyor speeds and heat percentage for different types of food products.
In order to conserve energy, conveyor toasters often include a standby mode that stops the conveyor and reduces the heat percentage supplied to the heating elements. The standby mode can be entered by pressing an appropriate button (e.g., a “standby” button), or it can be entered automatically upon the detection of no food product on the conveyor for a period of time. The standby mode can be exited by pressing an appropriate button (e.g., a “cook” button), or it can be exited automatically upon the detection of food product on the conveyor.